Ray Harryhausen, the animator and visual effects pioneer behind film classics such as Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, has died aged 92.

The “father of stop-motion animation”, he encouraged a generation of fantasy film-makers through a technique that seemed to bring models to life. Directors such as Steven Spielberg, who made Jurassic Park, James Cameron, who directed Avatar, and Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit, all cited him as an inspiration.

A career spanning five decades saw him work on some of the best-selling films of their time. George Lucas once said that “without